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manifestations, shaping his governing principle toward the more divine. Therefore, the one dwelling in Joppa is a man of practice, observing the snares of the adversaries; but the one dwelling in Zion is a gnostic, contemplating with the mind only the beauty of divine things.

And if the vessel of the linen sheet is drawn up again into heaven, let us understand that after the spiritual principles of sensible things were shown to the great Peter as coexisting with the intelligible realities, God again draws them up to Himself; teaching that nothing of which the principles abide with Him is altogether unclean. Therefore, having understood the power of the things seen, the great Apostle learned to call no man unclean, and that there is no partiality with God, which makes an unjust division of beings. Wherefore, without delaying at all, he fulfilled the divine command, sacrificing for spiritual life those who voluntarily circumcise their heart by the word of grace, and cast off all impurity of unbelief, evil, and ignorance like a foreskin [Fr. cast off]; but of the flesh, circumcising none of the things that belong to it by nature; of which the constitution is not from an impassioned mind, but the origin is from divine creation. For nothing (360) that is according to nature is unclean, because it has God as the cause of its existence.

SCHOLIA. a. He speaks of a transposition of life and angelic worship, and of the soul to the body

a voluntary alienation; and a generation in spirit of a divine transformation, it proclaims the mystery of the New Covenant.

b. The principle of the commandment, he says, is one thing, and the manner of the commandment's fulfillment is another. The great Peter, therefore, having received the command to preach to the nations, being ignorant, was taught the manner of the command through the linen sheet; that without circumcision and the other more corporeal things of the law, the calling of the nations should take place; for the Word knows a spiritual circumcision, an excision of the soul's impassioned relation to the body.

c. Fr. Every word of a divine command certainly needs instruction as to how it ought to be practiced; which the great Apostle calls sufficiency.

d. The one who does not, through sensation, remain in the forms of visible things, but according to the mind seeks out their principles, viewing them as types of intelligible realities, or as principles of sensible creatures, is taught that none of the things seen is unclean. For all things by nature have been made very good.

e. He who, he says, is not changed along with the motion of sensible things, pursues the unadulterated practice of the virtues. And he who has not shaped his mind by their forms, has received the true opinion about beings. And he who with his thought has run past even the essence of beings, as an excellent theologian has after this unknowably approached the Monad. Therefore, he who has sacrificed within himself the creation of visible things for the third time, has become worthy of the rank of the perfect.

f. Joppa, he says, is a state of virtue, guarding against the harm from adjacent sensible things. But Zion is a gnostic state, looking to the reception of intelligible gifts.

QUESTION 28.

The phrase, "Come, let us go down and confuse their tongues," to whom was God speaking? Response.

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ἐκφανεῖς, τυπούσας αὐτοῦ τό ἡγεμονικόν πρός τό θειότερον. Ὁ γοῦν οἰκῶν Ἰόππην πρακτικός ἐστι, καταθεωρῶν τῶν ἐναντίων τά θήρατρα· ὁ δέ κατοικῶν ἐν Σιών, γνωστικός ἐστι μόνην κατά νοῦν τῶν θείων θεωρῶν τήν εὐπρέπειαν.

Εἰ δέ πάλιν εἰς οὐρανόν ἀνασπασθῇ τό σκεῦος τῆς ὀθόνης, νοήσωμεν ὅτι μετά τό δειχθῆναι τῷ μεγάλῳ Πέτρῳ τούς τῶν αἰσθητῶν πνευματικούς λόγους τοῖς νοητοῖς συνυπάρχοντας, πάλιν ἀνέλκει πρός ἑαυτόν τούτους ὁ Θεός· διδάσκων, ὡς οὐδέν ὧν οἱ λόγοι παρ᾿ αὐτῷ μένουσιν, ἐστίν καθάπαξ ἀκάθαρτον. ∆ιό γνούς τῶν ὁραθέντων τήν δύναμιν ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, ἔμαθε μηδένα λέγειν ἀκάθαρτον ἄνθρωπον, μηδέ προσωποληψίαν εἶναι παρά τῷ Θεῷ, ποιουμένην ἄδικον τήν τῶν ὄντων διαίρεσιν. Ὅθεν μηδέν μελλήσας, τό θεῖον ἐπλήρωσε πρόσταγμα, θύσας πρός ζωήν πνευματικήν τούς τήν καρδίαν ἑκουσίως περιτεμνομένους τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος, καί πᾶσαν ἀπιστίας, κακίας τε καί ἀγνωσίας ἀκαθαρσίαν καθάπερ ἀκροβυστίαν ἀποβαλλομένους [Fr. ἀποβαλλομένους]· τῆς δέ σαρκός, μηδέν τῶν προσόντων αὐτῇ φυσικῶς περιτέμνοντας· ὧν οὐκ ἐξ ἐμπαθοῦς γνώμης ἡ σύστασις, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ θείας δημιουργίας ἡ γένεσις. Οὐδέν γάρ (360) τῶν κατά φύσιν ἀκάθαρτον, ὅτι Θεόν ἔχει τῆς ὑπάρξεως αἴτιον.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Ζωῆς μετάθεσίν φησι καί λατρείαν ἀγγελικήν, καί πρός σῶμα ψυχῆς

ἑκούσιον ἀλλοτρίωσιν· καί ἐν πνεύματι θείας μεταποιήσεως γένεσιν, τό τῆς νέας ∆ιαθήκης καταγγέλλει μυστήριον.

β΄. Ἕτερος, φησίν, ὁ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐστι λόγος, καί ἕτερος ὁ τοῦ γίνεσθαι τῆς ἐντολῆς ὁ τρόπος. Λαβών οὖν ὁ μέγας Πέτρος περί τῶν ἐθνῶν τοῦ κηρύγματος ἐντολήν, ἀγνοῶν διά τῆς ὀθόνης τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐδιδάσκετο τόν τρόπον· ὅτι δίχα περιτομῆς, καί τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ νόμου σωματικωτέρων,τῶν ἐθνῶν χρή γίνεσθαι τήν κλῆσιν· πνευματικήν γάρ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος περιτομήν, ἐμπαθοῦς σχέσεως πρός σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτομήν.

γ΄. Fr. Πᾶς λόγος θείας ἐντολῆς χρῄζει πάντως διδαχῆς τοῦ πῶς ὀφείλει πραχθῆναι· ὅπερ ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος ἱκανότητα λέγει.

δ΄. Ὁ μή τοῖς σχήμασι τῶν ὁρατῶν ἐναπομένων διά τήν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλά κατά νοῦν τούς λόγους αὐτῶν ἀναζητων, ὡς νοητῶν τύπους, ἤ λόγους αἰσθητῶν θεώμενος κτισμάτων, οὐδέν ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι τῶν ὁρωμένων διδάσκεται. Πάντα γάρ φύσει καλά λίαν καθέστηκεν.

ε΄. Ὁ τῇ κινήσει φησί τῶν αἰσθητῶν μή συναλλοιούμενος, ἀκίβδηλον τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν μετέρχεται πρᾶξιν. Ὁ δέ τοῖς αὐτῶν σχήμασι μή διατυπώσας τόν νοῦν, τήν ἀληθῆ περί τῶν ὄντων ἀπείληφε δόξαν. Ὁ δέ καί αὐτήν τήν οὐσίαν τῶν ὄντων τῇ διανοίᾳ παρέδραμεν, ὡς ἄριστος θεολόγος μετά ταύτην ἀγνώστως τῇ μονάδι προσέβαλεν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τρίτον ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταθύσας τήν κτίσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, τῆς τῶν τελείων ἄξιος γέγονε τάξεως.

στ΄. Ἰόππη μέν ἕξις ἐστίν ἀρετῆς, φησίν, τήν ἐκ τῶν παρακειμένων αἰσθητῶν φυλαττομένη βλάβην. Ἡ δέ Σιών ἕξις ἐστί γνωστική, τήν τῶν νοητῶν σκοπεύουσα χαρισμάτων ὑποδοχήν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΗ΄ .

Τό· "∆εῦτε, καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τάς γλώσσας," πρός τίνας ἔλεγεν ὁ Θεός; Ἀπόκρισις.